Ever Worried About a Two-Class System For UX Professionals? It Might Be Here.
The other week I was invited to speak at a local UX meetup – had some freshly baked brezels (not pretzels) along with great conversations. The event management team was awesome, and the night was great fun. In between talks, however, I had a very interesting casual exchange about something I hadn't paid a lot of mind to – yet. The person I was talking to asked me something along the lines of "Where are you accredited, as a UX Writer?" and I replied something along the lines of "Say what?". And off went my journey into yet another rabbit hole.
What even does accreditation mean?
Let's start from the very beginning – because that's where I had to kick my journey off as well. What even does accreditation mean? According to the Oxford Dictionary, accreditation, in general, is the "action or process of officially recognizing someone as having a particular status or being qualified to perform a particular activity". So, like completing a course or educational program and then letting the institution confirm you have that new knowledge and can apply it? No, not quite.
The difference between accreditation and certification
There is a difference between accreditation and certification: A certificate is typically awarded after completing a specific course or training program. It demonstrates that a person has acquired certain knowledge or skills in a particular area. Certificates usually focus more on educational achievements and can be obtained relatively quickly.
Accreditation, on the other hand, is usually a highly formal, often more rigorous process that involves assessing and validating an individual's professional experience, adherence to industry standards, and commitment to the field.
Personally, I've come across the term in the context of different engineering and craftsman jobs since these jobs usually need to adhere to strict technical and industry guidelines here – otherwise, they risk other people's lives.
But in UX?
How accreditation processes work
I dug deeper. And I learned that in UX, accreditation is supposed to mean the same thing: A certain institution testifies that you're an expert at your job. Got it. But how exactly do they know?
Easy: You, as a UX professional, have to apply to be admitted to the accreditation process. The accrediting institution usually asks for a solid amount of professional experience, completed projects, and letters of recommendation. Experts then review your CV and projects, and you'll likely need to pass a written test and have an interview or oral exam. If you succeed, you can call yourself an accredited UX professional in your specific area of expertise (e.g., UX research, UX strategy, or UX Writing).
This process is supposed to ensure that accredited professionals have proven their expertise and only truly professional experts get awarded with official accreditation. Sounds like only the best of the best get it.
So, who gets to decide who's best of the best?
Who awards accreditation?
It's not even that easy to find out which institutions award accreditations. The most prominent one is probably the Association for the International Accreditation of UX Professionals and Quality Assurance in the Professional Field of UX, Usability and Human-centered Design (IAPUX). Also, Nielsen Norman offers an accreditation program, even though they call it UX certification and combine it with the requirement to several of their courses. These two are the ones being advertised most openly. But what are their claims?
The benefits of UX accreditation
1. Professional Validation & Credibility:
Accreditation formalizes a professional's expertis, so I guess hiring managers, LinkedIn, and clients will love it. Gaining UX accreditation might add a new layer of credibility to your professional history and make you stand out from your competition, for example, in application processes.
2. Enhanced Visibility:
But that's not it. Accredited professionals often have their names listed on the accrediting institution's website, which can increase their visibility and reputation in the field, especially because the accrediting institutions are usually big players. These institutions may also recommend the accredited professionals’ services, making them more attractive to potential employers and clients.
3. Network Opportunities:
Some accreditation programs also offer valuable networking opportunities with industry experts and peers, invite you to give a talk, or become an accreditor yourself. Hence, accreditation can definitely lead to new career opportunities.
Okay, this list makes UX accreditation look like a really powerful tool that may indeed push your UX career to a higher level. But to be very honest with you, something about this just seems sketchy. So let's talk about the cons.
The Cons of UX accreditation
1. Potential Bias & Power Imbalance:
In most cases, a small group of people decides about the applicant's accreditation status, which immediately raises concerns about potential biases or conflicts, especially since, in some cases, we don't even know about the qualification, eligibility, and credibility of those who decide who gets to call them an accredited UX professional.
2. Financial Barriers:
The cost of accreditation can be a significant barrier for some professionals, potentially limiting access for those who cannot easily afford it. The Nielsen Norman UX certification program, for example, starts at about $6,000, and yes, you do not only get certified but can also choose five of their courses (appr. 35 course hours in total), but this is simply about being able to afford it or not. Prices as high as this exclude all those not living in regions with higher median income.
3. Excessive Requirements for Board Membership:
In some cases, the board members themselves also decide on the requirements of who can become a board member (read that again). There is no such thing as a control committee – or at least, we don't learn about one. In some cases, we can observe that the set of criteria to be on such a board leans heavily towards academic qualification and not so much towards hands-on industry experience. Members of some of the, well…, smaller boards seem to have tailored the requirements exactly to their very own qualifications, making it inevitable that the background of further board members is exactly the same as theirs. Only little diversity can be expected here.
And finally, let's ask the elephant-in-the-room question:
4. Qui bono?
One can be skeptical about whose interests the accreditation bodies are actually serving. Critics argue that these organizations might be acting in their own interests, not only capitalizing on the accreditation process but also putting themselves in a (prestigious) position of power.
Does UX accreditation make sense for UX Writers?
Apart from the general cons, a couple of minutes into the conversation, I asked the person: "But who is going to accredit me? Who are the people that are going to judge my work?" Don't get me wrong, I will never be perfect at UX Writing, but after all, I have about seven years of experience in UX Writing (not writing, UX Writing), completed about 20 projects for about 12 clients from all kinds of industries, have educated more than 25,000 students in my UX Writing courses worldwide, while running the biggest UX Writing YouTube channel. I'm a hard-working, continuous learner in the field, and I expected the person I talked to to give me names such as Kathrin Suetterlin, Katherine Igiezele, Slater Katz – all amazing and experienced UX Writers who I'd trust with accredited me.
But no: In the case of Nielsen Normen, we don't get to know who accredited us (at least not before participating in, i.e. paying, the program); in the case of the IAPUX, as of July 2024, none of the board members has worked as a UX Writer. I'll just leave that here.
Conclusion
There remains the question of whether accreditation for UX Writing professionals even makes sense, as the discipline itself is still evolving and is actually shaped by the people working and researching for it. However, this might be different for UX Design and UX Research. Therefore, UX accreditation definitely has the potential to be a valuable asset for professionals looking to validate their skills and enhance their career prospects. However, if we are serious about this, we:
Have to involve the right people in the accreditation process.
Make the accreditation boards more diverse.
Remove financial barriers up to a point that creates fairness among UX professionals with all kinds of salaries.
If you are interested in getting accredited by one of the named institutions (or any other), I highly recommend doing your own research. There are some facts I stumbled upon that are noteworthy but that I cannot mention here in order to not get myself into trouble, but before handing any of these institutions your money, definitely dig deeper.
